Denied Life
by Wanted Pandafox
Summary: The story of a simple man, living on the edge of the City, short of the Tower's shadow. A simple man, an instructor at a military Academy. Thats all he is, it's all he ever wants to be.. So what went wrong?


**This isn't a replacement story for A Species Reborn - that one's still getting continued, right now I'm sort of reviewing the direction I'm taking it and changing what I don't like/think works. Same can be said for most of my stories. I'm doing a whole review of them all. By this time next week, they'll be updated though. All of them - except Zootopia 2 - thats a different situation. **

~...~

As morning broke over the lands, and the people of Earth woke from their sleep, a young man, roughly twenty-five stirred, rubbing his eyes as he threw his legs over the side of his bed. His ruffled brown hair, unstyled, and with eyes a shade of green so mesmerizing, the young man stumbled to his feet. Dressed in a simple tunic, of plain brown and trousers of the same color, he made his way to a near table in his room and study.

The oaken surface, dotted with papers, books and other items housed what he searched for admist the pile. Many a book he discarded, as they were not his focus, until one, with just a corner poking out from beneath a pile of papers caught his eye; this book, he grabbed with a care he did not use prior, gently lifting it as if it could crumble to dust in his hands any moment. Unlike the rest of these books, the leather cover of the fromt was decorated with something different, a pattern he had no recollection of.

As his fingers tenderly traced over the surface, he took a few seconds to take in the image infront before slowly opening it and flicking through the pages; eyes taking in every detail, so subtle and tiny. From the faintest sketchmarks of the strange creatures to the unique names and titles they were given. Words that spoke of them as though he had met them in person, fought with and against them.

Page after page, it was like this, sketches, words. All sorts of creatures, all manner of size, race, form.. Names like those of fairy-tale creatures: Ogre, Goblin, Goliath. Page throughout page of this book. With every passing second, he flicked through so carefully and calmly, before settling on a new, clean page.

Still gently clasping the book in one of his hands, he roughly pushed most of his papers aside to clear some space, then, he pulled out the chair and sat down, taking a pen, he took great care and began to write into this book. A new entry into this strange collection. Time passed in a blur, the young male engrossed in his works as the world moved on forgotten. As a sentence came to a close, a knocking on the wooden door of his study echoed and snapped him back to the present.

"Come in." He put down his pen, gently closing the book but being sure to remember roughly where in it he had been writing. He remained facing his desk as it clicked open behind him, and soft footsteps filled the quiet calmness of his room.

"Morning, sleep well?" Her voice was quiet and smooth. He smiled softly, turning on his chair to face the newcomer. Her hair was pitch-black, and hung down over the left side of her face, coming down to her shoulder. She was fairly short, petite, for a better word. Her face round, and pretty, and her visible eye a striking hazel so bright, yet so deep and full of emotion.

"Yes, and you?" She nodded meekly. While he wasn't surprised to see her, he also wasn't so accustomed to her visits. She was a shy girl, keeping to herself as frequently her job as one of the Academy's medics would allow. Ah, yes, medics. The school in which they found themselves was a military academy. She had found herself a medic, and he an instructor.

She slowly made her way over to him, and silently asked if she could be allowed to sit upon one of the other chairs. He nodded, as for even a shy person who didn't talk much, she was still good company. "Got a day free I assume?" He chuckled.

"Y-yeah, Ashla's taken over training today.. Y-you?" He nodded, sighing in relief as he got up and turned his chair to face her.

"Yeah.. They want to train them with Sniper's and Demolitions.. Those aren't my departments." He shrugged nonchalantly, grabbing a book from his desk and looking over it's cover idly.

"What book is that?"

He payed it no mind and quickly put it back. "Just the rulebook.. Might as well be, wasn't interesting to read." She giggled softly, not meeting his eyes nor his smile.

"None of the books are." He got to his feet, offering out his hand to her.

"Wanna take a walk?" Her cheeks blushed a soft hue of red, and she hesitantly took his outheld hand and got to her feet. He was a full head taller than her, and twice her strength. Training in hand-to-hand combat and automatic rifles was doing much for him. She walked beside him throughout the corridors of the Academy, greeting those of both staff and recruit as they passed.

"Morning sir. Ma'am." Greeted a young recruit as he stepped aside in the doorway, letting the two pass. While the instructor thanked him and greeted him in turn, the girl simply inclined her head slightly in gratitude.

Many a recruit passed by them in the halls, alongside other instructors, officer's and security guards. Being stationed on the edge of a old hotspot of illegal activity gave cause to have armed guards at the Academy. It was a wide building all in all, spanning a total length of foot football fields from the furthest of one side to its opposite, and a total width something similar, though due to such massive size, the Academy had ultimately been split somewhat evenly in half. One half for medical training, engineering, navigating and other such non-frontline/combative roles while the other focused solely on combat.

They were of the combat focused half. However, while some would complain about the distance to arrive to the Academy or traverse its length, those complaints would hault soon after a look of the countryside around them. Beautiful greenery untainted by remants of war nor the civilisation.

Even the Academy itself was somewhat beautiful in aesthetic for a military Academy. It sat just short of the shadow of a great building. The Tower, a building and its many halls and rooms he had also recorded into his book, yet not one memory did he hold of ever walking its surface. Nor a memory did he hold of ever walking beyond the expanded borders of the Capital, seated snuggly beneath the great White Sun, or the 'Traveler' as many called it.

His book spoke so much of these things as well, even in it, it spoke of lands far and distant, lands not walked upon by humans for hundreds of years, if at all.

"You planning to visit your parents?" He asked, his voice soft and focused. He had kept the discussion quiet until they were far from unintentional evesdroppers.

"I..I d-don't know.. S-should I, Voxer?"

"I cant say Kayda.. It's your family, you should know more than me." Voxer sighed, turning his gaze to the land around them. In truth he had hoped Kayda would've said yes. She needed closure, she needed to hear from them what he had told her.

Kayda just took in a deeper breath and continued walking at his pace, not responding. After a few seconds, she spoke up again. "What about you? Any plans for our Season break?"

Voxer shrugged, he hadn't thought about what he'd be doing when he, Kayda and a fair portion of other instructors would be granted a months leave. He didn't have a family to go back to, no mother, nor father, and he was born an only child, so he'd probably go and spend the month at a friends. Some had planned to get wasted and party on the weekends, some had planned for a month with their families. One had even planned for her wedding with her girlfriend of seven years.

Yet Kayda.. She had no plans either; unlike Voxer though, she didn't have any friends beyond the Academy, so she had nowhere to go but her family she was currently at odds with.

"Probably gonna go to Zepla's and chill for the month. Can't wait to take my leave. Three years straight I've been instructing, I'd jump at just a day off nevermind a month. When was your last break?"

"I-I've been here since I was fourteen.. Training.. Heh, I'm twenty-nine now. My last break was when I was twenty-four."

"You worked five years straight? God damn Kayda.. I only started about seven years ago, when I was twenty-three." As they walked and communed, they came to one of the few roads laid out from the Academy to many other various destinations: Voxer quickly put his arm out infront of Kayda as she failed to notice the supply transport pulling into the Academy. She blushed a shade of faint red at being so oblivious.

Once the transport had passed, and the road became clear once again, they continued their walk around the Academy, Voxer's hands now returned to the pockets of his uniform. They had walked, possible the length of a football field and a half before they sat down, resting on the ground, beneath the shade of a tall and vast oak tree. The blades of grass tickled at her hands, swaying in somewhat unison with her hair so softly in the weak wind.

Kayda sighed, tearing a single blade of grass from the dirt, before with a evil, playful but cute smirk began to tickle Voxer around the back of his neck. The male, not being as ticklish as she had hoped, only shrugged in minor discomfort at the blades tingling pressence. Not pleased with the less than expected outcome, Kayda pouted and in mock sadness began to whimper.

Voxer laughed softly while shaking his head, amused at Kayda's signature little whimper that ultimately earned her the nickname Kitty, amusing as she wasn't a massive cat lover, she had a soft spot for Raccoon's though. She discarded the grass blade in a playful huff, arms now folded across her chest.

"C'mon Kitty, cheer up." She pouted only more, though after a few seconds she finally graced another small smile. With a sigh, contentment flowing from her, she rested her head upon Voxer's shoulder and stared out across the vast expanse of the land before them. The peaceful silence shattered by the echoes and bangs of the firearms used in training, jolting Kayda from the nap she was drifting off into.

She shifted somewhat now uncomfortable, and Voxer wrapped a soothing arm around her shoulder. On occassion, sudden training sessions like this would startle her into a more paniced and distressed person. He had grown accustomed to the sound, so it mattered not to him - yet Kayda, even after so many years of spending most of her life here, it still shook and startled her for a reason he did not - and doubted ever will - know.

It was something he also never mustered up the courage, nor felt it was his place, to enquire about. She attempted to once again rest her head upon his shoulder, taking advantage of her day off by catching up on some missed sleep. She had recently been worked off her feet to cope with a series of injuries, staying up night after night with as little as three hours sleep per day.

Eventually she was forced to step down, or she'd run grave risks to her health. Voxer had shown a massive interest in those events, a massive interest in figuring out the cause of it. A grand total of one-hundred and fifthteen recruits, male and female, suffered injuries akin to cut and stab wounds. No attacker ever caught, despite the heightened security.

Thankfully, none of the wounds proved fatal and all of them survived. All instructors had been interrorgated and questioned, yeilding no results. It had left him nervous and worried for the saftey of his recruits. Some had feared for their saftey and asked to transfer to other Academy's.

Perhaps an hour or two had passed when Kayda began to stir, hazel eye blinking to rid the sleep and a soft yawn escaping her pink lips. Brushing her void-black hair back behind her right ear, she got to her feet with a slight stumble, balancing on the tree for support. Voxer noted this and got up to.

Kayda gave a quick stretch, feeling her shoulders pop back into place. She then glanced around her surroundings, somewhat in confusion before shaking off a snaking feeling in her heart and walking once again by Voxer's side. "You alright?" Came his smooth voice, as he allowed one hand to leave his pocket and gently grip her own. He had noticed her confusion, and somewhat slightly jumpy or distressed attitude when she woke up.

"Y-yeah.." He gave her hand a soft squeeze before letting go and returning it to the confines of his pocket. They continued to walk, coming up to one of the exterior shooting ranges, as a young group of recruits, roughly sixteen to eight-teen, of both male and female, came marching out in unison, rifles held firmly over their shoulders.

The lined up, a total of twelve recruits in two rows of six, one row boys and the other girls. "Call in!"

"Barnes, reporting, sir."

"Ashley, reporting, sir."

"Raidan, reporting, sir."

"April, reporting, sir."

Voxer drowned out the rest of the recruits calling in, waiting patiently in the background. Being an instructor himself, he always liked to watch from the back during other sessions, to see how they differed. To see if there was anything he could learn, new techniques, or if he could improve those of the instructor he was observing.

Viewing the arsenal of the recruits, he noted mainly semi-automatic models, and sidearms. They lacked suppressive firepower, such as a Machine gun or Automatic weaponary.

"Ahh, hello Voxer, Kayda." The duo inclinded their head in greeting, and Voxer proceeded to do a small hand gesture that said 'continue, dont mind us'. "Recuits, positions!" The twelve recruits instantly scrambled into pairs behind the sandbag barricades. It was at this moment Voxer noticed that one of the female recruits, April, he believed it was, seemed to be struggling.

Kayda noticed it too, pointing at her. "You think she's ok?"

"Possibly, it's hard to tell. Keep a closer eye on her."

"Saftey's off, take aim!" The cocking of multiple weapons soon filled the air, and soon all twelve recruits were aiming their weapons down towards the targets. "Fire." That they did, not a second after the order was given, they unloaded rounds downrange, some hitting their marks and others missing.

One in particular, was definitely struggling to make her shots hit; and her teammate beside her was noticing. "Cease fire." After about two or three minutes, the order finally came, and the instructor approached the targets. Every recruit had been prior instructed to fire no more than a full magazine. He made a count of the total bullet hits on each target.

In order for these recruits to progress to the Simulation training or the Squad V Squad training, all recruits had to land a total of ten of the fifthteen shots in their magazine. The most they could allow for under was eight shots. He began listing off recruits and their hit mumbers, so far all scoring above ten. Then he got to April.

"April, total hits.. Five."

The recruit who was stationed next to her scoffed in frustration. "Sir, permission to give April a beating. She's been holding us back for two months now."

"Permission granted."

"Permission denied." Voxer stepped forth, glaring at the instructor, Kayda at his side. What with Voxer being such a well known and respected teacher, no-one was going to oppose him. He never agreed with such military discipline and punishments, yet as he watched April he noticed she had been unfairly put into a squad she was not trained enough for - and that made his blood boil that the still allowed her to be beaten; especially considering the higher officers themselves had agreed that such punishments should only be for extreme circumstances, especially not unfairly assigned recruits.

"I'd like to know what April is even doing in this level. I've seen her performance and she hasn't even been trained properly." He folded his arms across his chest, glaring at him. The girl in question simply kept her head down, staring at the floor in fear. She couldn't endure another beating. "No one has even told her how to properly hold a rifle of this model and power, nor how to adjust to wind, or judge the drop of a bullet at distance."

"Sir. If I may." It was the one who requested to beat her. "April has been holding us back from the next stage for two months. She has cost us multiple advances. She deserves to be beaten."

"I said no." Voxer growled, glaring at him. "Do you question my order?"

"N-no sir."

"April, return to your quarters, I want to speak to you later."

"Y-yes sir." She got to her feet, struggling her way back inside, casting a fearful glance back.

"Now, you lot listen here!" Voxer gathered their attention, a tone full of control and commanding the situation. "This Academy, does not run like those ones of old. These punishmenrs, of beating recruits does not stand, especially when she was been assigned as unfairly as she was. I will not stand for it. Now, how many times has she been beaten?"

"Eleven.. sir."

"And how many times have any of you offered to simply help her?" The recruits looked at eachother and the instructor, faces now shamed. "As I thought.. Get back to training. And you." He pointed at the instructor. "You are going to have to explain this to the C.O." He gulped nervously. "Back to it!"

Voxer sighed, taking a deep breath and turning away from the situation. It was rare he lost his cool with other's, but he never agreed with the punishments. He had fought tirelessly to lighten them. Physical beatings never helped.

As he and Kayda began making their way from the group, Voxer's much calmer demeanor returned. "Her uniform was too tight around her chest as well.. She'll end up having breathing trouble during fitness training if that's not sorted."

"I'm going to inform the C.O. Hopefully he'll solve this mess. Lucas is going to be serverly reprimanded for allowing her to suffer as many beatings she was, and no doubt all the recruits will too."

"Once you've finished talking to her, send her round to me.. I'll give her a full medical check up." Voxer gave a curt nod.

"I'll see you later Kayda, perhaps tonight you could join me for a drink."

"I-I-I... Ermm.. Y-yeah, I-I'll see you there." She blushed heavily, fumbling over her words. Voxer smiled, happily and waved goodbye before making his way inside through the nearest door.


End file.
